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    120 Pints of Beer for 50 Guests (UK): 3 Sample Orders and TEN Checklist

    Beer crates staged for a taproom event

    For around 50 guests over a typical four to five hour event, start with a sizable amount of beer in pints, cans or litres, then adjust from there as needed. Increase that baseline for a younger or heavier-drinking crowd, and scale it down if a good share of your guests will choose wine or non-alcoholic drinks instead. The right format, pints from a keg, canned beer, or a mix, changes how far that volume stretches and how easy it is to serve safely.

    TL;DR:

    • For a four to five-hour event with 50 guests, plan for roughly 120 to 150 beer servings, adjusting upward for heavier drinkers or younger crowds.
    • Use the formula guests multiplied by hours and 0.6 to estimate total beer needs, then vary depending on guest preferences for wine or spirits.
    • Choose formats like kegs, mini-kegs, or crates based on variety, equipment availability, and budget, noting that larger kegs yield more servings per litre.
    • Expect drinking patterns to increase after food, so adjust your order to account for late-evening spikes and brief your staff on pacing.
    • Always order a small extra supply or backup, and confirm delivery and deposit terms, especially when sourcing from wholesalers or breweries.
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    Table of Contents

    Step-by-step calculations and three sample orders for 50 guests

    Over four hours, that is roughly 2.4 beer servings per guest, or 120 pints for 50 people. A rough formula you can reuse for any guest count: guests × hours × 0.6 × 1 drink = total beer servings needed.

    1. Short drinks reception (1.5 to 2 hours): plan for around 1 to 1.5 beers per guest, so 50 to 75 servings. A mixed case order of 150 to 200 cans (330 ml) or one 30-litre mini-keg plus a case of bottles covers this comfortably, with spare stock left for top-ups.
    2. Seated meal with an evening session: guests typically drink less during the meal and more afterwards. Budget 1 beer per guest during the meal and 2 to 3 through the evening, roughly 150 to 200 servings in total. A combination of two 50-litre kegs (around 176 pints before loss) plus four to six mixed crates of bottles or cans for variety works well here.
    3. Evening party with continuous drinking (4 to 6 hours): expect 3 to 4 beers per guest, so 150 to 200 servings minimum, and build in a contingency of an extra 10 to 15% in case the crowd drinks faster than planned. Two to three 50-litre kegs, or three 30-litre kegs plus a backup crate of cans, gives both volume and a safety margin.

    To scale these figures for a different headcount or duration, multiply guests by hours by 0.6, then adjust the beer share up or down depending on how many guests are likely to drink wine, spirits, or soft drinks instead. A shorter event with heavy drinkers can need as much beer as a longer one with a mixed crowd, so duration alone never tells the whole story.

    UK serving sizes, measures and the alcohol units you should plan around

    UK pubs and venues serve draught beer in specific, legally recognised quantities, and knowing these makes it far easier to translate “litres of beer” into something you can actually pour. Weights and Measures guidance confirms that draught beer must be sold in a third, half, two-thirds pint, a full pint, or multiples of a half pint, while pre-packed beer in bottles and cans has no fixed specified volume, which is why you see 330 ml, 440 ml and 500 ml cans sitting side by side on shelves.

    • A standard pint (568 ml) is the most common draught measure at UK events.
    • A half pint (284 ml) suits tasting flights or guests pacing themselves.
    • A 330 ml can or bottle is the usual pre-packed format and converts to roughly 0.58 of a pint.
    • 500 ml cans are increasingly common for craft beer and equal just under a pint.

    One UK alcohol unit equals 10 ml of pure alcohol, and a pint of 5% ABV beer contains about 2.8 units, according to Drinkaware’s unit and calorie calculator. The site recommends not regularly exceeding 14 units a week, a useful benchmark when you are thinking about how much any one guest might reasonably drink across an evening without planning for excess.

    Which format to choose: kegs, mini-kegs, casks or crates

    The right format depends on how much variety you want, how much kit you are willing to hire, and how forgiving your budget is for leftover stock.

    • Kegs give the lowest cost per pint and the least packaging waste, but need a dispense system, gas and chilling, plus someone who knows how to connect and pour from them.
    • Mini-kegs (5 to 20 litres) suit smaller gatherings or a single specialist beer alongside a bigger crate order.
    • Crates of bottles or cans are the simplest option: no equipment, easy chilling in domestic fridges or ice tubs, and the flexibility to offer several styles at once.
    • Mixed crates plus one keg often works best for 50 guests, giving variety without committing to multiple dispense setups.

    UK keg sizes commonly run to 20, 30 and 50 litres. A keg-servings calculator estimates a 20-litre keg yields around 35.2 pints before loss and a 50-litre keg around 88 pints, and recommends planning for some loss from foam, lines and sediment during setup and pouring.

    Pro Tip: Order one more crate of cans than you think you need: unopened stock can usually be returned or kept, but running out mid-party cannot be fixed quickly.

    Extra crate of cans added to beer order

    How event timing changes drinking, and how to pace your order

    Drinking rarely stays level across an event. Speeches and formal meals slow consumption, while the period after food and into the evening sees it pick up sharply, often doubling the per-guest rate you planned for the earlier hours.

    1. During speeches and meals, cut your hourly beer estimate by around a third and offer halves or wine as an alternative, since guests tend to drink less while seated and listening.
    2. Straight after the meal, expect a spike as guests move to the bar together, so have your fastest-pouring format, cans or a keg already connected, ready at this point rather than mid-changeover.
    3. Late in the evening, offer low-and-no options and water alongside beer to naturally slow the pace without feeling like you are cutting guests off.
    4. Brief your serving staff or volunteers on pour sizes and pacing in advance, since inconsistent pouring is one of the quickest ways to burn through a keg faster than planned.

    Enough glassware or cups at the bar matters as much as the beer itself: a bottleneck at the point of service creates queues, frustration, and sometimes guests giving up and leaving early, which skews your sense of how much was actually drunk.

    Essential kit to hire or buy, and how much spare supply to allow

    Getting the beer right only works if the equipment around it keeps up. For draught service you will need a dispense tap or font, a CO2 or mixed-gas cylinder, a cooling unit or ice baths, and enough glassware or compostable cups to avoid a bottleneck at peak times.

    • Glassware or cups: allow at least 1.5 per guest to cover breakages, drops and guests switching drinks, so roughly 75 for a party of 50.
    • Ice: budget generously if you are chilling cans or bottles in tubs rather than a fridge, since ice disappears faster than most planners expect, particularly outdoors.
    • Spare kegs or crates: keep one extra mini-keg or a couple of crates in reserve rather than cutting your order to the exact calculated figure.
    • Cleaning supplies: line cleaner and basic sanitising kit if you are running your own dispense equipment for more than a single session.

    Allergen information should be available for both draught and pre-packed beer, since non-prepacked food and drink served at an event still needs clear labelling or verbal disclosure at the point of order.

    Where to source beer in the UK and what it costs

    Local breweries and specialist bottle shops tend to offer better variety and fresher stock than supermarkets, though supermarkets and wholesalers usually beat them on price for mainstream lagers bought in bulk. Wholesalers often require a minimum spend or case count, so check this before you commit to an order.

    • Supermarkets and cash-and-carry wholesalers: cheapest for mainstream lager and ale by the case, but limited craft variety.
    • Local breweries and bottle shops: better for craft and Sussex-brewed options, often with sale-or-return terms on unopened stock.
    • Keg hire companies: typically charge a deposit plus a hire fee for the dispense kit, on top of the keg itself.
    • Supermarket or brewery delivery slots: book at least a week ahead for larger orders, since weekend slots fill quickly around peak party season.

    A basic crate order for 50 guests using mainstream cans often lands in the lower hundreds of pounds, a mixed-craft order with more variety costs more per litre, and keg hire adds a deposit plus daily hire charge on top of the drink itself. Confirm deposit refund terms and delivery lead times before ordering, since late deliveries are one of the most common causes of last-minute panic buying.

    If you are selling alcohol at an event on premises that are not already licensed, you will usually need a Temporary Event Notice (TEN). GOV.UK guidance states that a TEN must be applied for at least 10 working days before the event, covers gatherings of fewer than 500 people, and can run for up to 168 hours.

    • Check whether your venue already holds a premises licence, since a TEN is only needed for unlicensed spaces or events outside normal licensing hours.
    • Apply at least 10 working days ahead through your local council, allowing extra time in case of queries.
    • Use measured glassware for draught pours where possible, since weights and measures rules govern specified quantities for draught beer sales.
    • Offer food, water and low-and-no alternatives throughout, not just at the end of the night, to support responsible drinking among guests.

    A pint of 5% ABV beer contains multiple alcohol units, and Drinkaware recommends not regularly exceeding their advised weekly limit, a figure worth sharing with staff briefed on responsible service at your event.

    Lost And Found example: supplying and serving beer for 50 guests in Brighton

    A midweek booking for 50 guests at our Fiveways taproom usually draws on a rotating mix of Sussex-brewed cask and keg beers alongside bottled and canned options from our bottleshop, so guests can move between a session IPA on tap and a canned stout without us needing to source anything specially. We have menus available online, so you can plan a drinks list with guests before the night rather than guessing on the day.

    • Check current taps and bottle options on our beer menu before finalising numbers.
    • Request a copy of our private party planning checklist to confirm timings, headcount and drinks mix in advance.
    • Ask whether a street food collaboration can run alongside the bar to help pace drinking through the evening.

    Planner perspective: mistakes to avoid and two quick tips

    The most common ordering mistakes are: assuming every guest drinks at the same rate, ignoring the slowdown during meals and speeches, underestimating late-evening demand, forgetting non-alcoholic guests entirely, and ordering a single format with no backup when a tap or keg connection fails.

    1. Buy sale-or-return stock wherever a supplier offers it, so unopened cans or bottles cost nothing if you overestimate.
    2. Mix one keg with a couple of varied crates rather than committing everything to a single format, since this covers both volume drinkers and guests who want variety.

    Our checklist and menu are worth a look before you place any order of your own.

    — Author

    Choose Lost And Found: venue hire and full event support for 50 guests

    Rather than juggling keg hire, gas cylinders, glassware and a TEN application yourself, booking our Midweek Hire or Weekend Hire hands the whole drinks side of a 50-guest event to a team that already runs it every week. Every beer and cider on our taps is brewed in Sussex by independent breweries, so your guests get local variety without you needing to source it crate by crate.

    Lost And Found Taproom

    • Exclusive use of the venue, so your bar spend goes towards drinks rather than venue charges.
    • Full flexibility over decorations, music and drink selection within the space.
    • Access to our rotating on-tap and bottleshop range, including XXL Hot Dogs and street food van collaborations for food alongside the bar.
    • Menus are available online, so you can plan the night in detail before you arrive.

    If you are weighing up self-managing supplies against letting a venue handle it, get in touch about venue hire to check availability for your date.

    FAQ

    How many cans of beer should I buy for 100 people?

    Using the same planning formula, roughly double the 50-guest baseline to around 150 to 200 servings per 50 guests for a typical four to five hour event, then adjust up or down depending on how many guests prefer wine or non-alcoholic drinks. Always build in a small contingency, since a bigger guest count makes running short more noticeable.

    What are the beer sizes in the UK?

    Draught beer is legally sold in a third, half, two-thirds or full pint, or multiples of a half pint, as set out in weights and measures guidance. Pre-packed beer in bottles and cans has no fixed specified volume, which is why 330 ml, 440 ml and 500 ml formats all appear on shelves.

    Where can I find cheap crates of beer?

    Supermarkets and cash-and-carry wholesalers generally offer the lowest prices per case for mainstream lager and ale, though variety is limited compared with specialist bottle shops or local breweries. Checking minimum order sizes and sale-or-return terms before buying in bulk helps avoid overspending on stock you will not use.

    What are the most people you can have in a pub at once?

    Maximum capacity depends on the individual premises licence and the physical layout of the venue, not on a single UK-wide number, so it is always worth checking directly with the venue you plan to hire. For an unlicensed space, a Temporary Event Notice covers events of fewer than 500 people for up to 168 hours.

    Sources

    If you want to check any of the figures above against the original source, the GOV.UK guidance on Temporary Event Notices covers filing deadlines and attendee limits, while the weights and measures rules explain specified quantities for draught beer. Drinkaware’s unit and calorie calculator is useful for checking unit counts at different ABVs, and the keg-servings calculator lets you convert any keg size into an estimated number of pints or cans before ordering. For layout planning once your bar and seating are set, cafe table spacing guidance covers clearances worth checking if you are hiring a space and setting it up yourself.

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